Woven mat



Dec. 15, 1959 J. S. CAPUTA ETAL- WOVEN MAT Filed April 22, 1957 United States Patent WOVEN MAT John S. Caputa and Paul J. Kask, Chicago, Ill.; said Kask assignor to said Caputa Application April 22, 1957, Serial No. 654,212

8 Claims. (Cl. 2878) This invention relates to a woven mat, such as a place mat for a dining table, and to a method of making such mats; and it particularly relates to a mat having a warp of yarn, such as cotton, combined with a weft of twisted cellophane.

Woven mats in which the warp consists of cotton or other similar yarn, and the weft is composed of strands of twisted cellophane, are quite popular because of their decorative appearance, and also because the cellophane lends a degree of strength and rigidity to the mat which is not possible in a mat made solely of fabric. Heretofore it has been thought necessary to continue the warp at the ends of such mats beyond the last picks of the weft to form a. fringe, as shown in Fischer and Merwitz Patent 2,557,819. A mat with a finished fabric end portion is far more desirable than a mat having an end fringe, both because of the greater durability of such a mat, and because a mat with a closed fabric end may be washed in a conventional washing machine, while a fringed mat cannot. Nevertheless, insofar as applicants are aware, cotton and cellophane place mats have heretofore been produced only with an end fringe.

The reason for this has been that it has heretofore been impossiblev to produce a satisfactory place mat with a closed fabric end. Mats of this type are ordinarily made in continuous lengths, and the adjacent mats are then cut apart; and all previous efforts to produce a mat with a closed fabric end have resulted in an unsightly device because the fabric end portions bow in at their side margins, so that they are irregularly narrower than the body of the mat containing the cellophane weft, as soon as the weaving tension is taken off the weft.

We have now discovered a method by which fabric and cellophane place mats, rugs or the like may be provided with finished fabric end panels which are made solely of the same fabric as that in the body of the mats, and in which the fabric end panels have straight lateral margins which are linear extensions of the lateral margins of the body. Insofar as applicants are aware, this is the first time that such an article has successfully been manufactured.

The article of the present invention is illustrated in a preferred embodiment in the accompanying drawings in whic Fig. 1 is a fragmentary plan view of a series of mats as they appear coming olf the loom, before they have been severed into individual mat lengths;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan view on an enlarged scale of the adjacent end portions of two mats, showing their contiguous end panels;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 after retaining stitches have been applied to the end panels along the lines where they will be severed to form their end margin;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 showing one end of a mat after it has been severed from the continuous strip of mats;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary plan view of one face of a mat after its end margin has been finished by binding; and

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 showing the reverse side of the mat.

It is believed that for the most part a clear-understanding of the finished article and of the method by which it is made requires that the two he described together, and accordingly, the method steps used in producing the finished article will be described as the article itself is described.

Referring, therefore, to Figs 1 and 2, we see in Fig. 1 a continuous series of place mats, indicated generally at 10A, 10B and 10C. The three mats have bodies which are numbered 11A, 11B and 11C, respectively; and end panels which are numbered respectively, 12A for the mat 10A, 12B for the mat 10B, and 12C for the mat 10C. The mats are woven continuously on a loom, using warp threads 14 of cotton yarn, and weft threads 15 of twisted cellophane. The so-called twisted cellophane is commonly used in the art for such articles as place mats, and the cellophane strands actually. appear as though they were zigzag folded and then compressed into a flat ribbon. Commonly such strands are about .2 inch wide, and are folded from an original cellophane strip which is approximately 1% inches wide.

As best seen in Figs. 5 and 6, the warp strands 14 extend continuously throughout the body 11A and the end panel 12A of the mat 10A, and since the mats are continuously woven on a loom such warp strands actually extend the entire length of all the mats which are produced in a single run. The cellophane weft strands 15 are woven only into the body portion 11 of each mat, while the end panels have weft strands 16 which are of the same cotton yarn as the warp strands 14.

In accordance with the method of the present invention, when the weaver has a sufiicient number of cotton yarn weft strands 16 to form the end border 12A for the place mat 10A, he stops the loom and inserts between the warp strands 14 and immediately adjacent the last weft strand 16 a strand 13A of the same sort of twisted cellophane which is used for the weft in the 7 body 11A of the mat 10A. Following insertion of the cellophane strand 13A, the weaver continues to weave cotton weft strands 16 until he has suflicient strands to complete the end border 12B of the next adjacent mat 10B, after which he again inserts shuttles containing the twisted cellophane strands 15 to form a body 11B of the second mat 10B. Similarly, when the end panel 128 at the opposite end of mat 10B is formed, a cellophane strand 13B is inserted before the end border 12C of the mat 10C is started. Thus, each mat in the series is separated from the next adjacent mat by a relatively stiff strand consisting of the cellophane weft materialv Furthermore, in the process of weaving the mats the weaver changes the tension on the shuttle release between the body of a mat and the end panel. Starting with a given tension on the shuttle release when the cellophane weft 15 is being laid, the weaver reduces the shuttle release tension before starting to lay the cotton weft strand 16 for the end panel.

After a series of mats such as mats 10A, 10B and is woven, the series of mats, still attached together, is transferred to an operator who applies retaining stitches, such as the zig-zag stitches 17A and 17B as seen in Fig. 3, to the end panels 12A and 123 along both sides of the cellophane strip 13A. The zig-zag stitches 17A and 17B are applied so that there is a sinple pick of the cotton weft 16 between the cellophane strand 13A and each of the zig-zag stitches 17A and 173. Next, as seen in Fig. 4, the mats are separated from one another by severing them along both margins of the cellophane strip 13A, thus removing the cellophane strand 13A from the mats. The severed margin of the end panel 12A has the cut ends of the cotton warp strands 14 projecting beyond the line of zig-zag stitching 17A, and normally the single pick of the cotton weft strand 16 which is between the zig-zag stitching 17A and the cellophane strip 13A will remain interwoven with the warp strands 14 and must be removed at the same time as the cellophane strip 13A.

The mats are next completed by finishing their severed ends with any conventional stitch, as seen at 18. We have discovered that in order to assure a finished mat of the highest quality and the most uniform appearance, it is important that the ends of the end panels be finished by using a Merrow stitch of 10 or 12 points, with 10 preferred. We have discovered that an 8 point is too open for a satisfactory end border, and a 14 point stitch is so tight that it causes waves in the border.

It is apparent that although the present invention has been described with reference to a mat having cotton warp strands and twisted cellophane weft strands in the body, it is equally applicable to any other combination in which the weft strands are considerably stiffer than the warp strands, and in which it is desired to have an end border: containing weft strands of the same soft material as the warp strands. The reducing of the shuttle release tension for weaving the end panels, as compared with the tension used for the weaving of the cellophane body weft, combined with the use of a border strand which is of substantially the same stilfness as the body weft material, keeps the all cotton end panels from drawing together laterally when the weaving tension is taken oif them.

In order to provide a mat which presents a different appearance on the two faces, it is preferred that the body weave be as shown in Figs. and 6i.e., one in which the 'warps strands pass over a single weft strand and then under two weft strands. However, the invention is, of course, equally applicable to a mat construction using a different weaving pattern.

The foregoing detailed description is given for clearness of understanding only and no unnecessary limitation should be understood therefrom, as modification will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

We claim:

1. A woven mat comprising: a body which has a weft of relatively stilf strands and a warp of softer strands; woven end panels on said body having a warp which is a continuation of the warp in the body and a weft of strands of substantially the same softness as the warp, the lateral margins of said end panels being straight extensions of the lateral margins of the body; and finishing stitches along the ends of said mat.

2. The mat of claim 1 in which the stiff strands are twisted cellophane and the softer strands are cotton.

3. The mat of claim 1 in which the finishing stitches comprise a Merrow stitch of not less than 10 nor more than twelve points.

4. The mat of claim 3 in which the Merrow stitch is 10 points.

5. The mat of claim 1 in which the finishing stitches include a zi-g-zag stitch overlaid by a stitch of a different type.

6. The mat of claim 5 in which the overlaid stitch is a Merrow stitch of not less than ten nor more than twelve points.

7. A woven mat comprising: a body which has a warp of cotton and a weft of twisted cellophane; woven end panels on said body having a warp which is a continuation of the cotton warp in the body, and having a cotton weft; the lateral margins of said end panels being straight extensions of the lateral margins of the body; and a Merrow finishing stitch along each end of the mat which is not less than ten points nor more than twelve points.

8. The woven mat of claim 7 in which there is a zigzag lstitch at each end of the mat, beneath the Merrow stitc References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 141,112 Carpenter July 22, 1873 1,763,074 Taylor June 10, 1930 1,976,669 Kranefuss Oct. 9, 1934 2,020,699 Patrick Nov. 12, 1935 2,122,623 Rogers July 5, 1938 2,141,386 Habib Dec. 27, 1938 2,564,454 Stohlman Aug. 14, 1951 

